Tag Archives: block

The good news is that we are now in that final stretch of NaNo. If you have been diligent, or did extra ahead of time to allow for Thanksgiving feasting and Black Friday madness, you should be in good shape.

I mean 1,667 words a day isn’t that much? I’ve seen plenty of comments on blogs from ethics to manners that roared past that number. I’ve seen run on sentences that sent on forever. How many of us finished that thirty page research project in three days for high school? Fiction can be way easier because you can make up shit. That’s why it’s called fiction.

NaNo whirlwind 2017, original neon whirlwind by Creativity103 without change, used under Creative Common 2.0

I easily average over a thousand words a day writing. I switch from project to project when one gets blocked or a plot bunny bites. Usually I do comments or blog entries, and write for two active fiction stories every week.

But doing nearly two thousand every day for NaNo lasts long enough that I have to prune my other activities just to get it done. The later in the month, the more has been has been pruned. TV and movies are much lower. Socializing too, but that’s been on a downward trend since college. Sleep has been hard hit, but that’s back to holding at six to seven hours. Some years, plot bunnies from EVERY other unfinished story attack to distract me, leaving fang and claw marks everywhere. Shopping for the holidays takes a big hit, even ordering online doesn’t help when the online system at Michaels told us they were out of stock three days in a row, but a friend walked right in and bought several from a flat. By the end of the month, family is a little better at not bothering you. A little, and only for humans. The four leggeds do not understand NaNo anymore than they get daylight saving time.

If you have made use of all this scavenged time, you should be over 40k words by today and hit 45k by tomorrow night. You may be tired and hate the story, but at this point you’re so close it would be stupid to stop.

And if you have fallen behind, you have only five days including today. Cut out more and write more. If you never really got rolling, write anyway. Write about the problems you had this year and how to avoid or lessen them for next time. Make it about a learning experience instead of about your lead.

Even after multiple successes, it is rarely any easier. The first draft is easy for a very, very inspiring idea that won’t let go. I think that has happened maybe twice in the last twelve NaNos for me. Twice were total wrecks and did not finish. The others were hard and sometimes brutal. But I made it through them. A majority of the stories were posted online as fanfic, or sit in a trunk hoping for effective editing and revision.

But there is always next year. There are also two Camp NaNo sessions where you can practice the pace or pick a different goal. Just keep at it. Someone will love your story, the tricks are to be clear in telling it and find your fans.

Resting and adaptability sometimes just are not enough, the last few days are usually brutal. The various Thanksgiving hosting and food issues, plus even limited shopping for the holidays are not just distracting, but exhausting. This year Thanksgiving was early. You might think that a full week after the holiday means you have massive time, but no. It’s just that you only have three weeks for prime writing this time before the holiday, instead of closer to four.

There was a major illness in my immediate family this fall, so food and even cleanup had to be reconfigured. (Turkey breast in the slow cooker and dropping the stuffing) We also had a panic attack when sibling announced that all the leftover potatoes fell on the floor! But the bigger disaster was that a new helper eagerly rubbed pepper on the turkey, for a house where no one uses pepper at all and we only keep a little for guests at the table. The family attacked the turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, and asparagus and took a communal nap. (forgot the fresh cranberry relish again!)

image by Jack on flickr at [https://flic.kr/p/5LPmyy], under Creative Commons 2 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/]

Of course the culture seems to have decided to replace watching football with competitive shopping, in stores that barely close for the longest holiday travel weekend of the year. I have some shopping done, but will make cards after NaNo ends. One issue is that shopping for normal things is about five times as as slow and exhausting as normal, like for just plain soda out of stock on Tuesday. I’m not buying a TV or phone, so the door busting doesn’t even open my door let alone bust anything. I will be looking at laptops real soon now as my 3rd fan is very noisy. It seems to work fine, but apps to monitor heat add extra overhead. I’ve been watching it for heat and stress for over a year, but noise is the only issue and gives me a headache sometimes. Researching a new one will take time, time I can’t afford during NaNo. Even if prices will be very good. I don’t know how long I can nurse this one, as much as I love it. All things pass.

But later.

The holiday + Black/Cyber/Giving brouhahas make even normal business a challenge. And writing something intentionlly thoughtfull? Concentration and time are near impossible for a couple of days. A day and a half away doesn’t seem like that much, but it is.

Getting started and back in the mindset is like an opening night. You have to ignore the butterfllies and all the little imps that remind you the slowcooker is stained with smudges of dried glaze at the top and you need to order and collect dogfood. They can wait a couple of hours.

Better yet, see what you can offload to other family members. But down on rec reading and even checking the news. Anything really big and family will tell you.

Use an idea you were doubtful of earlier. Add something lighter, as too much angst is a drag! Recast a favorite piece for your world if it doesn’t break the setting. I may look for a random plot or prompt list to do a scene. Write a tabloid reporter or newspaper like National Enquirer reporting of story events, even more fun, have the characters see the story and have them react big!

Determination

The worst thing about NaNo usually happens around the 17th. It’s not the sleep deprivation, though that contributes. It’s not the greater isolation, I’m already isolated because of many RL issues. It’s not when essential people and appointments fall through, those happen anytime. It’s not the cold and mystery thickener that left you sicker than a dog for days. It’s not even any one aspect: plotting, block, or incomplete worldbuilding reaching back to bite you.

It’s the depression when the story is coming to a screeching halt. And words are coming so slowly an hour of writing, a mere three hundred words, make you want to beat your head against something. You hate the scene, the characters, and the plot and you’d rather write an essay on muclear meltdowns than even look at your story you loved and were so optimistic about two weeks ago.

The story idea is good.

I did a draft about four years ago. It fell apart. The villain was a purposeless trope. A bunch of characters were bland and the climax just sort of petered out. Despite attempts to revise there just was too little to hang the good parts on.

So I put the great idea in a mental trunk until I was skillful enough to tackle it again. Now, I’m taking a class in novel writing and I thought I conld do both at once. After all, I already had the bones of a story I believed in.

No such luck. Despite some parts of the lesson showing me where I’d messed up the first time, another part was loathed by my muse.

Writing came to an utter stasis by Nov 2. Keeping the guidelines in mind seems to be enough to put my muse in a vise, a straightjacket. I even tried writing a separate prompt piece like the NaNo people suggest to clear the decks and resume the original novel. Almost 6500 words of that diversion and the original story’s air has cleared up.

I write a few thousand more if the original booj idea before I get to another crash and burn yesterday, bleeding every word.

NaNo whirlwind 2017, original neon whirlwind by Creativity103 without change, used under Creative Common 2.0

Today I had to face that the new noveling techniques are derailing how I wrote before, but the writing of it painful and has no joy. That diversion, a pantser with loose demi-outline but no deep planning flowed as normal. With the speed needed for NaNo, I cannot afford to use any technique that slows me down. So I’m switching projects… to that diversion one.

1800/day for the rest of the month will be challenge enough because of intractable RL issues. All this for these lessons: a) Even crashes and burns can be redeemed, that stories you are starting to hate can be set ashore before it’s too late. And b) Pay attention when your muse is not happy. You cannot force it to do what your logical side, your ego want it to do.

Sleep! Sleep is not for wimps, no matter how much people talk about pushing through. A dream can also give you a present to get out of block or a story problem.

In Search of Lost Time by Alexander Boden on flickr, without changes, per Creative Commons.

Going short on sleep even a few days is an open invitation to any cold virus or other bug to come for a long stay. When sick, writing will be twice as bad and often be pure junk. Four hours in early November cost more like fifteen when the deadline is looming.

Don’t do it! Sleep at least an hour less than your usual. But I’m beginning to think even that is counterptoductive.

If at all possible try to clear all the recurring tasks in the last days of October. Yes, yes, Halloween dressup and candy are fun, but a late party just drains time and energy. (And really, Target, what is the point of sending me an email about featuring boy’s halloween costumes on November 3rd late in the day? So many things have already switched over to Christmas bazaars and craft fairs in the next week. Let’s focus on no Christmas movie marathons before Halloween!) Get the groceries early. Do that laundry. Cook down that pumpkin.

This won’t save you from emergencies, like a prepaid grocery pickup losing the prepaid part and will not accept the numbers over the phoneThen there;s unexpected issues with understanding: when the shopper is requested to get red gelatin with sugar, but that was out of stock and wegot the disliked low calorie. old cable line with the central needle gave up the ghost so new shows and old DVR recordings were inaccessible. Those were bad enough, but needed blankets are still stuck in the drier and tonight’s eat out treat became leftover pasta.

Crane Gears by Kevin Utting, attributed under Creative Commons 2.0

Today would have been much less stressful if some tasks were frontloaded. My muse wilted again from the stress.

As usual, something came up when I have three deadlines too close together. a) NaNo 2018 starts in less than 48 hours. I’m combining the NaNo challenge of a 50k novel draft in one month with part of b) Holly Lisle’s HTWAN class. (only part as the class in only about five weeks in, out of like thirty weeks of class) I also planned to get c) one last chapter of a fanfic done before my December crash. Then there’s RL issues like a missing aide to help my mother and someone scamming over a hundred dollars of Lyfts from a card of someone still in recovery from surgery.

NaNo’s been rough this year. Real life interruptions have been far worse, and word caount much lower than other years. I have to work even more hours to make up that 1k I’ve been consistently lagging over all. Yesterday I forgot to stop and post my count. Today will look very impressive as it’s more than average.

Worse is that a pause to find the right word or phrase keeps threatening to become a full clock because I’m tired. This one’s gogint o be right up to the buzzer.